Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:34 — 12.2MB)
Don flashes back to the previous night as Rochester presses Jack’s tuxedo. He is getting ready for a special event on the town. The Beavers are putting on a school play based on Jack’s radio show. Mary makes fun of Jack’s old tux. Bob Crosby phones in to say that he’s on jury duty, and can’t make the broadcast. He doesn’t mind missing since he is actually making more money on jury duty than being on the show. Bob has sent a record of him and the Sportsmen singing, O Happy Day O Lucky Me.
As Jack and Mary leave, Dennis approaches on a bike that he won on a quiz program. Dennis tags along to the packed auditorium. As they wait, Jack signs an autograph for a fan.
The curtain goes up, and in a style that reminds me of the Little Rascals, the beavers do a good job of spoofing the show, and even at impersonating the characters. Jokes about Jack being cheap. The Mary impersonator reads a letter from her mom. An imitation Frank Nelson delivers a telegram. There’s even a pint sized Dennis Day to whip out the crazy jokes, and he even sings, Clancey Lowers the Boom.
The tiny version of Jack Benny is stopped by a tiny version of the race track tout with advice on what kind of candy to buy. Before the play can start, Jack tries to phone Rochester, but of course the telephone operators talk about jack’s love life behind his back. Jack talks to Rochester about the price he’s asking to sell his Maxwell for. The show wraps up with the life sized Jack Benny trying to sell lemonade in the lobbby.
All in all a cute way to recycle old jokes from the show that go back a decade or more before this time.
